Koiyamiberry of the DEAD
by Suzume CA
Summary: Just your average run-of-the-mill crossover between HOTD, Yamibou, Strawberry Panic and Koihime Musou (yes, I know, another one...). Takashi and company are about to get some unexpected help from Team Souma, as they try to track down the source of the infection that created Them. Set between chapters 14-15 of Strange Fire. Rated M for violence and because Kaname likes to say f*#@.


**KOIYAMIBERRY OF THE DEAD**  
by Suzume CA

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Part 1: DEAD's Angels

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 _We were getting to be pretty good at this._

 _It seemed a strange thing to think about in the post-Them world, where death and loss were becoming a part of everyday existence. Really, if you stopped to take a look at things for longer than a few seconds, it would be pretty easy to lose yourself in the futility of our struggles. How long were we really giving ourselves? How long would we be able to stem the tide before our own inevitable deaths?_

 _And so, for the most part, we didn't follow those thoughts, choosing to stick to our own self-imposed mission – find the rest of our families – and choosing to realize that yeah, we really were getting to be pretty good at this. Saeko-san was her normal unstoppable self with a sword, Hirano was the ultimate crack shot, Rei was becoming quick and deadly with both rifle and bayonet, and even I was finding myself comfortable with a shotgun after only a few days of practice. Takagi was, of course, a genius (and never let us or the enemy forget about it), Shizuka-sensei had uncovered a gift for stunt-driving (and mowing Them down in the process), and little Alice... well, if any of us ever needed an immediate reminder of what we were fighting for, she more than provided it._

 _We were becoming a unit. Not a family, as such, but almost a machine, with defined roles and flawless execution, both of our plans and of our undead enemies. As long as we had ammunition, food and rest, there was no chance we would succumb to Them. Continuing to live in the moment was not only our strength, but also our defense, because it kept us from thinking about things like what we'd do when the ammo finally ran out, or when food might become scarce, or when we might find ourselves in a situation where it was simply too dangerous to sleep._

 _I think that for all the bravado, though, we were each of us thinking about it in the backs of our minds. Takagi probably was more than the rest of us, since she was always several mental steps ahead, but sometimes I could see it when I met Rei's eyes, or Shizuka-sensei's: that worry about how long we could possibly keep up the fight without some sort of help from outside._

 _When that help came, though, it was nothing that any of us could have expected._

* * *

Takashi cursed under his breath as half a dozen more of Them advanced, shambling over the corpses of the ones he'd taken out with his last shot from the Ithaca shotgun. Beside him, Hirano was getting off headshot after headshot with his AR-10, but it was barely making a dent in the numbers.

Since abandoning the Humvee out of necessity, they had been making their way through the mostly abandoned city streets on foot, trying to keep as quiet as they could to avoid unnecessary attention from Them, but in the end, none of their precautions had been worth a damn, as They started appearing in larger and larger numbers, closing in from all sides as though drawn out by their very presence. Was it getting to the point that even their breathing was enough noise to tip Them off?

In response, the group had fallen into what was becoming a common tactic: Takashi and Hirano would fire from one end of their "formation," making as much noise as possible, while Saeko and Rei took point opposite them, clearing a path as quickly and silently as they could. Once said path was clear, the boys would cease fire and the group would make a dash for it in the relative silence.

This time, though, it was not going to be so easy. Takashi took a quick glance behind him to see that the others were having just as much trouble: they were getting squeezed between two masses of Them on this residential street, and things were only going to get more cramped if they didn't come up with something soon.

Saya was already trying to come up with a plan on the fly, which from the sound of it involved breaking the windows of one of the nearby houses and bolting inside, but before they could take things any further, an unfamiliar voice added itself to the scene.

" _Je_ sus _Christ_ , I _fuck_ ing _hate_ _zom_ bies!"

With that shout, there was a splatter of red as one of Them was split from shoulder to hip by a single stroke from a sword. Takashi's first reaction was to wonder how Saeko had repositioned herself so quickly, but then he got a better look at the katana's wielder: a tall young woman with short black hair, her tight tank-top and jeans already smeared with blood and gore.

At almost the exact moment, on the opposite side of the street, a second sword-wielder appeared: this one a girl in a blue and white _seifuku_ with an unusually long skirt. More quickly than seemed possible, she beheaded three camouflage-wearing former-humans, then turned to shout back over her shoulder. "Ren, cover the front!"

Before Takashi could wonder who Ren was, a third woman charged forward, this one a pink-haired amazon in some sort of barbarian cosplay, holding what looked like the most insanely cumbersome naginata in existence. In a flash, she darted between Takashi and Hirano, made a somersaulting leap over Saya, Alice and Shizuka-sensei, and landed right in the midst of the horde faced by Rei and Saeko, taking out at least half a dozen of Them in a whirlwind blur of steel.

Whoever these people were, Takashi quickly realized that they were alive, and fighting, and thus on the same side. He just as quickly realized, though, that with the two new sword-wielders hacking Them down in an acrobatic dance of bloodshed, he did not dare fire his shotgun into the melee. Hirano, apparently noticing the same, was limiting his shots to the periphery. Eschewing the Ithaca for now, Takashi drew his pistol, flicked off the safety, and scanned the area for targets.

With the addition of the one called Ren, the front line was almost completely cleared, and Takashi had to blink back his surprise as the pink-haired woman continued to mow through, taking out two or three of Them with each swing. Quite suddenly, with these new additions, they were on the verge of not only escaping, but of taking down the entire horde.

Then, to his horror, Takashi saw one of Them coming up on Rei's blind side. "Rei! To your left!"

There wasn't going to be enough time for her to bring around her Springfield, and before he knew it, Takashi was taking aim. Rei gave a cry of surprise and rolled to her right, giving him a clear shot.

In the time it took him to squeeze the trigger, however, the pink-haired barbarian girl had seemingly materialized between Rei and the shambling creature, spearing it on the end of her naginata and hurling it away. With a gasp, Takashi realized that she had jumped right into his line of fire, but by then his finger had already clenched, and he felt the recoil from the shot.

Without even looking back, the newcomer spun her polearm behind her, and there was a loud _spannng_ of metal against metal even as a brilliant spark erupted from the largest of its blades.

The woman had literally swatted Takashi's bullet out of the air like a fly.

The sound echoed around them for a moment, to be replaced by relative silence, and when Takashi recovered himself enough to look around, he saw that there were only living humans left standing.

The girl in the _seifuku_ flung the blood from her blade before re-sheathing it. "Is everyone okay?" she asked, walking purposefully toward the group. Her voice was low-pitched and breathy, not unlike Saeko's, and she had brilliant blue eyes.

She was also, Takashi noticed as she came closer, extremely tall, and he found himself having to crane his neck slightly as she came closer. "It was looking pretty dicey before you guys dropped in," he nodded. "Thanks for the assist."

The short-haired swordswoman had been checking a couple of the bodies, and at this point she came up beside the other girl, handing her a holstered pistol on a belt. "Those guys were U.S. military," she said as she belted on a pistol of her own. Takashi noted that she, too, was intimidatingly tall: almost as much so as the other girl.

"Beretta M9 nine-millimeter with the fifteen-round magazine," Hirano confirmed, his eyes lighting up at the sight of this new toy. "Standard issue for the U.S. Army."

"From me to you, then," the short-haired girl smirked, tossing a third belted sidearm to Hirano. "Looks like you know your stuff."

"They must have sent in troops from one of the American bases," Rei said quietly as she approached from the other side.

"Not that it did them any good, looks like," Saya snorted, looking disparagingly at the uniformed corpses.

"No," said the one in the _seifuku_ , "but it may mean that there are more of them nearby, or at the very least more weapons." She then brushed her hair back from her ear and pressed a button on what looked like a Bluetooth headset. "Tamao-chan, can you track down where those soldiers came from?"

"Hey, where did you get a working headset?" Saya demanded. "The EMP fried everything! There shouldn't even be any cellular networks up!"

The girl held up one hand to stop Saya's questions, and got a distant look in her eyes as she brought her fingers back to the headset. Obviously she was listening to _something_ , EMP or no EMP. The third of her group, meanwhile, came to stand at her side, the bladed end of her naginata resting over her shoulder.

"Who are they, sensei?" he heard Alice whisper from behind him.

"I don't know, sweetheart," Shizuka-sensei replied softly. "I think they're the good guys, though."

"Thanks, Tamao-chan," the long-haired girl nodded, before turning her piercing eyes back to Takashi. "The Army set up a blockade a few blocks north of here. There's no one left alive there, but there are still plenty of weapons."

"More U.S. Army issue?" Hirano said in a tight, high-pitched voice, looking terrifyingly excited at the prospect.

The girl nodded. "Shall we, then? My group can take point."

"Do we at least get to know who you are and what you're doing here?" Saeko asked, sheathing her own katana as she spoke.

"Long story," the girl sighed. "There'll be time for that once we get to a safer spot."

There was a long pause, and Takashi realized that everyone was looking to him to make the next move. "Okay," he nodded. "We'll follow your lead."

* * *

"So what have we got?" Kaname said over the headset as she and Hazuki took point, leading the expanded group through the corpse-strewn streets.

"What do you mean?" Hazuki replied.

"Who's our _Souma_ -bearer?" Kaname elaborated. "You're the veteran here. What should we be looking for?"

"Honestly? Usually it's the one with the boobs."

Kaname took a look over the group of natives, then snorted. "You're gonna want to be a little more specific this time, ace. Other than the kid, this world's wall-to-wall tits. Even the guy in the glasses seems to be sporting quite a pair."

"Yeah, well, until we can take a minute to shake hands with everyone, that's all I've got."

"So that's your secret? Seriously? All that mystic energy shit, and you just look for the one with the nice rack?"

"That's just how it turns out, okay? Usually a _Souma_ presence plus a female host means an E-cup, minimum."

"Yeeeeaaaahhh, still waiting on that part," Kaname snorted.

"Hey, you're not exactly _flat_ , you know."

"Mmm, thanks for noticing."

"Am I going to have to hit you?" Hazuki scowled.

"Um... could we please change the topic?" came Tamao's voice over the earpiece.

"Oops, busted." Kaname grinned evilly. "Girlfriend's listening in. Looks like we'll have to curtail our normal sexually-charged dialogue, Hazuki-chaaaaan."

"Look, I really _will_ hit you..."

"It's the blonde woman," Ryofu said suddenly. "The one they call sensei."

Hazuki and Kaname exchanged glances. "She's the one with _Souma?_ " Hazuki asked.

"Yes. I can smell it on her."

Kaname cast a look back over her shoulder and did a brief comparison. "Huh. Well, looks like the tit-mus test holds out after all, then. Too bad. I figured it had to be the one with the purple hair. I was looking forward to keeping a close eye on her."

The rolling of her eyes was all but audible in Hazuki's tone. "You're just saying that because she's hot, she has a sword, and Momomi's not here."

"You say all that like it's a bad thing."

"Can we maybe also not talk about how 'hot' the natives are?" Tamao asked with a sigh.

Hazuki cursed silently. "Sorry, sweetie. Just speaking aesthetically, that's all."

"Busted," Kaname said again.

"Seriously," Hazuki growled, "I am going to slap the _shit_ out of you once we're home."

"Fine with me, chief," Kaname grinned, "because that means we'll have gotten home."

There was something very familiar about that exchange, and it took Hazuki a few moments to realize that she had once said something very similar to Kaname when they had been in the alternate world invaded by dragons. In spite of herself, she smiled at this reversal. "Let's get this done as quickly as we can, then."

* * *

The military blockade was, as promised, deserted when they arrived, but the signs of struggle and bloodshed were all too obvious. No bodies (on the inside, at least) but plenty of blood: it was as though a mass of Them had swept through, killed and/or turned everything in their path, and then departed once there was nothing left to eat.

What they _had_ left behind, however, was a smörgåsbord of weaponry, and Hirano was quickly beside himself cataloging it all ("The M4 carbine with the 5.56-millimeter NATO rounds and the mounted M203 40-millimeter grenade launcher! The Mossberg M590 12-gauge pump-action shotgun! The Picatinny M84 flash grenade! The Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine gun with the 9x19-millimeter Parabellum rounds! _The Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, the direct descendant of the model built all the way back in World War I!_ "). There were also two vehicles: an armored Humvee and an eight-wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier.

After a few minutes of checking the vehicles (neither was functional thanks to the EMP), helping themselves variously to some of the weapons, and getting the blockade itself set up again as best they could, Takashi once again asked the question that was no doubt on everyone's mind. "Okay, so who are you guys, anyway?"

"My name is Azuma Hazuki," said the long-haired seifuku-wearer. She then indicated the short-haired girl, followed by the one with the naginata. "This is Kenjō Kaname, and that's... Ryofu Hōsen."

Hirano blinked in surprise at the barbarian girl. "Like _Dynasty Warriors?_ "

"The Han Dynasty is over," Ryofu said in a soft, rough voice.

After an awkward pause, Rei spoke up. "Um, Azuma-san, I don't recognize your uniform. What school are you from?"

"We're, ah, not from around here," the one called Kaname said, hoisting herself up to sit on a crate of munitions.

"Like I said, it's a long story," Hazuki nodded. "The short form of it, though, is that... we were sent here to help."

"Who sent you?" Saya demanded.

Kaname gave a snort of laughter, then spoke her next words in English. "We're on a mission from God."

"You're not helping," Hazuki muttered at her, before turning back to the rest of the group. "Now, I know this is going to sound strange, but we're not from this world. We're from what you could call parallel universes, and we've been sent here to save this world by killing the source of your little zombie problem."

There was a second uncomfortable silence following this improbable statement. Takashi frantically grasped for the one part of it he could understand, and cleared his throat. "We, uh, don't use that word."

"Which one?" Hazuki asked.

"The, uh, Z-word."

"Why the hell not?" Kaname frowned. "Looks like a zombie, shuffles like a zombie, stinks to high heaven like a zombie. Why not call it a zombie?"

"We just say 'Them,'" Rei said quietly. "It was Hisashi's idea. He said that if we called them that other name, then it would feel too much like a bad movie, or a game."

"Ah," Kaname nodded, looking unconvinced. "So which one of you is Hisashi?"

"He... didn't make it," Takashi said, gritting his teeth at the memory of having to stave in his best friend's head with a baseball bat.

"I see," Kaname went on nodding. "So how'd that not-calling-them-zombies idea work out for _him_ , then?"

"Hey, _fuck_ you!" Rei screamed, launching herself toward Kaname and bringing up her Springfield before Saeko and Saya could restrain her.

"You should have it so good," Kaname smirked at her, not flinching in the slightest.

Hazuki glared at her short-haired companion. "Not. Helping."

"Fine, whatever," Kaname frowned, shaking her head. "I'll let you get on with explaining all the impossible shit, then."

"Um, Azuma-san?" Hirano spoke up. "You said something about... parallel universes?"

"Right," Hazuki said, briefly rubbing one hand over her temples. "Where to start? Um... picture a giant library, with each of the books being a world. Your world is just one of them among countless others. Each of the three of us is from a different one, but we can travel between those worlds because of a power that we have... a gift that was given to us by one of the creators. Now, something from outside your world has invaded this one, and... infected it, which is the cause of the zo... of Them. We're here to find whatever it is and kill it."

"Like I said, mission from God," said Kaname.

Takashi looked around at the others. Saeko was impassive, as usual, and Rei still looked furious about the earlier jibe at Hisashi. Hirano looked confused and doubtful, while Saya settled for just doubtful, crossing her arms and looking at Hazuki with obvious disdain. Shizuka-sensei wore her normal expression of detached confusion. Of all of them, only Alice seemed to be truly following what the strange visitors were saying.

"We're also here to protect you," Hazuki went on, then turned her eyes on the school nurse. "Particularly you, Marikawa-sensei."

"What?" the sensei asked, holding one hand to her massive chest. "But... why me?"

"If you'll give me your hand, I'll show you," Hazuki smiled thinly, extending her own hand toward the older woman.

Shizuka-sensei looked doubtfully at the hand for a moment, then stepped cautiously forward and took it in hers.

The moment they clasped, Shizuka-sensei let out a gasp, and Takashi echoed it with one of his own as a soft green glow enveloped their joined hands.

"We're here to protect you because you're one of us," Hazuki explained. "This is called _Souma_ , and it's the energy of creation. At some point in your life, did you know a girl with golden hair and reddish-brown eyes, and you saw her disappear in a light like this one?"

"How did you-?!" Shizuka-sensei whispered.

"Because the same thing happened to us," Hazuki said with a half-smile. "She was one of the creators, living out a mortal life in your world. Because you were with her when she left it, part of her power came to you."

"She had... she had been in an accident, I think," Shizuka-sensei whispered. "I found her lying on the front steps of my apartment building. I thought maybe she'd been hit by a car, and once I could tell that it was safe to move her I took her inside to call for an ambulance, but before I could, she..." She trailed off, her eyes wide and vacant, as though reliving the memory.

Hazuki gave the school nurse a sympathetic smile, then cocked her head to one side as though listening to the voice in her headset. "That makes sense," she said vaguely, then turned back to the sensei. "Anyway, this power makes you dangerous to Them. _Souma_ , particularly the kind you have, is the antithesis to this infection. I'm afraid it also makes you a target: you might be the only thing preventing the invader from finishing this world off and spreading the infection to others."

"That might explain why they keep finding us," Saeko considered. "If they are drawn to Shizuka-sensei, then we've truly had no safe hiding place all along."

"Then... it's my fault?" Shizuka-sensei paled. "I'm the one who brought them to Takagi-kun's home?"

Saya growled angrily, but her ire did not seem to be directed at the blonde woman. "Oh, _please!_ " she snapped. "Don't tell me you're all buying into this nonsense? These three come in here with a cockamamie story about parallel universes, some bad cosplay, and a cute light show, and you're willing to believe them?"

"But... they've got headsets that work..." Takashi said, immediately wishing he hadn't, as it sounded silly even to his ears.

"And their friend knew where to find these weapons," Hirano offered.

Saya rounded on Hazuki, fists against her hips. "First of all, they may have already known about the guns, or they might have gotten lucky. Second, we don't know if the headsets really work, or if they're just props that they're using while they play us like a violin."

Kaname rolled her eyes. "Good Christ, they're in the middle of _an actual fucking zombie apocalypse_ , and they think our being here to help is unrealistic? We don't have time for this, Hazuki."

"We'll make time, then," Hazuki frowned. "Tamao-chan, could you do me a favor? Page back in this world's book and find something in Takagi Saya's past that only she could possibly know about, then tell it to her." She then stripped off her earpiece and held it out to Saya.

The pink-haired skeptic looked at it for a moment, then held it to her ear. After a moment, her eyes went wide and vacant, and her jaw dropped. After another moment, she collected herself enough to return to her normal scowl, and handed the device back to Hazuki, but she was blushing more deeply than Takashi had ever seen. "You... make a convincing argument," she muttered.

"Okay, let's assume you're telling the truth," Takashi said, trying to steer things back into a forward direction. "What happens next, then?"

Hazuki let out a short sigh as she put her headset back in place. "We find a place for you to hole up so that Marikawa-sensei will be protected, and then the three of us go and take care of the intruder."

"Fine, but what happens _then?_ " Rei asked. "So you kill this whatever-it-is from another planet. Will that stop the spread? Will all of Them just suddenly collapse or something?"

"Nah, better than that," said Kaname, stretching her arms to get some kinks out.

"To put it simply," Hazuki went on, "if we succeed here, time will be reset to the point where the outbreak started. None of this will ever have happened, and your world will go on like it was supposed to."

The stranger's words were met by a heavy silence as each of them processed this stunning idea. For his part, Takashi could barely fathom the concept: they had been forced to adjust so quickly to this new world, and now to have someone say that they could wave some kind of magic wand and put things back to the way they were?

Could it really be that easy?

Then his eyes met Saeko's, and though he could tell she was trying to maintain her normal mask of aloofness, he could also see the discomfort in her eyes. What would going back to the past do to her? Would she want to go back to being the stoic kendō student being eaten alive from the inside by her own demons? And what about Hirano, forced back into the role of the laughable loser after having tasted what it was like to be something more?

What about Takashi himself? Even though he knew that it was madness to turn down any chance to reset this nightmare, he could not deny that part of him didn't want that answer: part of him found the idea of being plain old Takashi again to be distasteful after everything they had been through together.

That thought, however, only lasted as long as it took for Alice to speak.

"Does… does that mean my daddy would be alive again?" she all but whispered.

Hazuki knelt before the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "That's right, sweetheart. You'll go on living your life, and you won't remember that any of this ever happened."

The look of hope in Alice's eyes defied description, and Takashi felt a wave of shame that he had even considered the idea of being better off as they were. "Can we help them, everyone?" Alice asked, looking around at her guardians.

"Of course we can," Hirano nodded, hardening his features into a look of determination.

"If it can bring Hisashi back..." Rei whispered.

"And save my family," Saya said with a grudging frown.

There was a pause, and Takashi realized that once again, everyone was looking to him to give the final word. "Okay," he said. "What do you need from us?"

Hazuki stood to her full height and let out a long sigh of what sounded like relief. "Like I said, we need to find a place for you to hole up and protect Marikawa-sensei while Kaname, Ren and I go and snuff out the source."

"I'll come with you," said Saeko abruptly.

Kaname raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"We all have a stake in this," Saeko went on, her voice as placid as ever. "This is my world, and I should have the opportunity to defend it, don't you think?"

"Busujima-san," Hazuki started, but Kaname interrupted her.

"Like hell," the short-haired girl spat. "We're going to have enough to deal with out there without having to watch your back, too. If you come, you're on your own."

"I can watch my own back," Saeko replied, and Takashi was beginning to worry about the widening smile on her face. "And besides, aren't you duty-bound to protect us?"

Kaname hopped down from her perch and stepped forward, bringing her face centimeters from Saeko's. "That's where you're wrong. We're here to save this entire _world_ , not _you_. You just happened to be with this world's _Souma_ -bearer. If we do our job, then _none of this will have happened_. Do you _really_ think I give two shits if you die in the here and now?"

"Then there should be no problem with having me join you," Saeko went on smiling.

Takashi felt a sudden dread as he watched this confrontation. Why was Saeko so adamant about coming with them? What was driving her to help them?

Could it be that she didn't want to help them at all? Could it be, as Takashi had earlier considered, that she was not willing to return to the tormented life she had once led?

To his disquiet, Takashi realized that he honestly did not know the answer to those questions.

"I'll go too, then," he said. "We've come this far, and I want to see it through to the end. Besides, you could probably use a local guide or two, right?"

"Hey, it's your funeral," Kaname scoffed.

"Will that leave enough protection for Marikawa-sensei, though?" Hazuki asked, looking over the rest of the group.

"I will stay and protect the teacher," said Ryofu.

Hazuki blinked in surprise. "Ren… are you sure?" she asked the pink-haired warrior.

"I am confident that you can kill whatever it is," Ryofu nodded. "No harm shall befall the teacher while I live."

"Oh, that's... good to know," Shizuka-sensei smiled, her expression bewildered even by her standards.

Having seen Ryofu literally deflect a bullet without looking, Takashi figured that Shizuka-sensei would be in good hands. Given the exchange between Kaname and Saeko moments before, though, he could not help wondering if that protection would extend to Rei and the others as well.

"I don't like splitting us up like this," Saya muttered, arms crossed. "Are you sure about this, senpai?"

Saeko nodded, her face having once again returned to its normal mask. "As Komuro-kun pointed out, our visitors could probably make use of some local guidance..."

"Suzumi-san can guide us just fine," Kaname growled softly in the background.

"And you're determined to go with her, then?" Saya frowned, turning her eyes to Takashi. "Figures. This hero thing's gonna get you killed."

"I'll protect him," Saeko smiled thinly, "even if our visitors will not." She said the last with a pointed glare at Kaname, but her expression did not change.

For her part, Kaname went straight for the bait. "Dammit, Hazuki, let's just kidnap the blonde and get the hell out of here."

"Oh, I'd like to see you try!" Rei barked, once again bringing her rifle to bear on Kaname.

" _ **ENOUGH!"**_

The single shouted word was enough to stop the mounting altercation in its tracks, and everyone looked at Hazuki, whose eyes were almost literally aflame, not to mention suddenly green rather than blue. Takashi was stunned that such a soft, breathy voice could carry such fury.

"This," the tall girl said in a quieter but no less forceful tone, "is something we really _don't_ have time for. Ren, I'm leaving them in your care. Kaname, grab anything extra you want to take and let's saddle up. We've got a goddamned _job_ to do here." She then turned her luminous eyes on Takashi, and he took an involuntary step back at finding himself the focus of that hard gaze. "As for you, this is probably going to be ridiculously dangerous."

"We've been through danger already," Takashi replied, trying to square his shoulders at her.

"I don't doubt it, but the last time Kaname and I did this, we were fighting _actual dragons_. If it gets that hairy again, drop the hell back and let us handle it. Are we clear?"

"We can handle ourselves," Takashi nodded stiffly.

"Then we're leaving," Hazuki said with a loud exhale. She then turned to Ryofu and took her hand. "Keep in touch with us over the headset, Ren."

"She will be safe with me," said Ryofu.

"I don't doubt it," Hazuki said again, pulling the warrior in for a brief hug. She then turned to her other companion. "Let's go."

Takashi found a hand on his arm, and he looked over to see Rei giving him a look of obvious concern. "Takashi, don't do anything stupid out there," she said. "If you don't come back, I'll _never_ forgive you."

"I'll be careful," he said, but then a bizarre thought occurred: assuming the visitors' story was true, if they failed he would never see Rei or any of the others again... and yet if they succeeded, the next time he saw them would be back at school, with no memory that he had made this promise. He looked from Rei to Saya, then to Alice and Shizuka-sensei, and lastly to Hirano, suddenly mindful of the likelihood that they would never be together like this again.

He shook off the thought and clapped his hand over Hirano's shoulder. "Watch out for everyone while I'm gone?"

" _Jawohl, mein herr_ ," Hirano smirked, giving him the thumbs-up. "Have fun saving the world."

"Okay, let's get moving," said Hazuki, taking a firm grip on her sheathed sword and heading back into the deserted streets at a jog, followed closely by Kaname. Takashi took one last look his friends, almost as though he were trying to commit each of their faces to memory. Lastly, his eyes met Saeko's. They nodded to one another wordlessly, then took off after the other two.

* * *

 _To be continued..._

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In honor of ninemil's birthday (still four hours left where I live, so it counts!), I present a story that's taken me entirely too long to start. I hope you all enjoy this detour into zombie-land.


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